Obama’s Small Contributions Surged in June, but McCain's Party-Based Strategy Gave the GOP Side a Combined Cash Advantage on June 30

(updated July 23, 2008)

According to monthly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on July 20, Barack Obama’s fundraising totals surged in June, after three months of decline. During the month the presumptive Democratic nominee for President raised $52 million, $47.5 million of which was earmarked for his primary election campaign. This total was second only to the $56.8 million Obama raised in February ($55.5 million for the primaries). A remarkable 65% ($30.8 million) of Obama's primary election money came in amounts of $200 or less. [See Table 1 for Obama-McCain figures for June. Table 2 presents cumulative data for all major party presidential candidates for this election cycle.] This is more than any candidate has ever received in amounts of $200 or less in a single month.

The presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, raised $21.5 million in June. (Since McCain plans to accept public financing for the general election, this was all designated as being for the primary.) One-third of McCain's money in June came in amounts of $200 or less, and 47% came in amounts of $1000 or more. McCain's small-donor percentage is his highest for the two-year election cycle so far.

The candidates spent comparable amounts in June (McCain $27 million and Obama $26 million). At the end of the month, McCain had $26.8 million in cash on hand and Obama had $57.5 million. [See Table 3.] But these two numbers cannot be compared directly, since Obama is planning to finance his campaign privately through the general election, when McCain will shift to public funds.

In addition to their respective campaign treasuries, both candidates will be able to count on support from the national party committees. As of June 30, the Republican National Committee had raised $193.5 million during the election cycle, compared to $90.0 million for the Democratic National Committee. More importantly, the RNC had more than 15 times as much cash on hand at the end of June as the DNC: $68.7 million to $4.5 million.

The combined June 30 cash on hand surplus for the Republican party and its presumptive nominee came to $95.5 million, compared to $62.0 million for the Democrats. In addition, McCain related joint fundraising committees had $9.7 million cash on hand destined to be split between McCain’s accounts, the RNC, and various state party committees. Obama's related joint fundraising committees had $15.8 million cash on hand to be split between Obama’s campaign and the DNC. Obama’s new joint fundraising committee with state parties was formed after June 30th.